


Episode 2.10: The Man-Wolf

by Starbooks13



Series: Spiders Have To Stick Together [36]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: As Soon As I Get There, Blending Universes, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Tries To Stop Him, Bruce and Natasha Friendship Feels, Bruce/Natasha if you squint, But So Do Avengers, Canon Compliant, Domestic Avengers, Foreshadowing, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Probably going to be AU-Canon Divergence pretty soon, Protective!Natasha, Science Bros, Season 3 Is Going To Screw Everything Up, Sneaky!Natasha, Spiders Have To Stick Together, Team Dynamics, Tony Likes Blowing Stuff Up, Tony Loves His Tech, Women Being Awesome, sort of not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-21
Updated: 2014-10-21
Packaged: 2018-02-22 02:56:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2491895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starbooks13/pseuds/Starbooks13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Tony gets distracted and Bruce and Natasha have each other's backs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Episode 2.10: The Man-Wolf

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write this from a Tony POV, but then I realized Tony was in the next episode, so I decided to use Bruce instead since I still wanted to feature the Science Bros in this one. And then some unexpected feels crept in, because for some reason I find it easy to write nice bonding moments between Bruce and Nat. Enjoy!

                Bruce had just managed to talk Tony down from blowing up their shared Stark Tower lab—again—when JARVIS announced, “Sirs, Agent Romanoff is requesting permission to enter.  She says she has the report from Director Fury on the Astrocarrier’s maiden voyage that you requested, Mr. Stark.”

               He nearly collapsed in relief as Tony's face lit up, the announcement neatly distracting him from his latest scheme.  “Excellent! Send her in.” 

                The doors immediately opened to reveal the catsuit-clad superspy.  “Fury says she handled like a dream, Tony,” Natasha remarked as she sashayed into the room, dangling a USB drive from her fingertips.  Tony immediately made a beeline for her and she let him pluck it from her fingers.

                “Well, I’ll be the judge of that.  Though it probably did, since I built it, after all.”

                Bruce rolled his eyes as Tony hurried to his console to plug in the drive and go over the data.  Natasha glanced around the room before moving to Bruce.  “So, on a scale of one to ten, how close was Tony to blowing something up before I got here?”

                “About an eight.  Though if you’d come about five minutes earlier, it would have been a pretty decent ten.”

                She raised an eyebrow.  “Need someone to get him out of your hair?”

                He sighed.  “I would like a nice, quiet afternoon of research, if that wouldn’t be impossible.  It’s been a few days since I had one.”

                Natasha’s response was to take out her SHIELD-issued Starkphone and pull up what looked like a series of incident reports.  After a few minutes of scrolling, a new alert popped up that made Natasha smirk in satisfaction.  “I think I’ve got just the thing.”  She raised her voice to make sure Tony could hear her as well.  “Hey, boys, I just got an alert from SHIELD requesting a heavy-hitting Avenger to help out Spider-Man.  Juggernaut’s escaped from prison and the kid’s up against him on his own.”

                Tony, fortunately, hadn’t gotten too deeply absorbed in the data yet.  He turned around the minute he heard Juggernaut’s name.  “Juggernaut, huh?  Been a while since I’ve gone a round with that muscle-bound lunkhead.”

                “And weren’t you saying the other day that you wanted to test your new repulsors against a really durable opponent?” Natasha remarked, seemingly casually.  Bruce was tempted to give her a fistbump right then and there.

                Tony rubbed his chin.  “That I was.  JARVIS, archive the Astrocarrier data and prep the armor.  I’ve got a date with the Juggernaut.”

                “Shall I inform Miss Potts that you wish to begin seeing other people, sir?”

                Bruce snorted and Tony rolled his eyes.  “Ha ha, you’re a real comedian, JARVIS.”

                “I try, sir.”

                The minute Tony was gone, Bruce turned to Natasha.  “Thanks.  I owe you one.”

                She shrugged.  “Don’t mention it.  It’s not like I don’t benefit from Tony helping out Peter.”

                Bruce moved to sit down at his work station and Natasha followed him.  “You really think Tony’s a good influence on Peter, don’t you?”

                “And I think Peter’s a good influence on Tony,” she replied, leaning against the table.  “From everything I’ve seen and heard about their interactions, Tony actually turns into a mature, responsible human being when he’s got a younger hero looking over his shoulder.”

                He nodded thoughtfully.  “You know, he kind of does.”

                “Just so long as we continue to uphold the rule of Peter not joining your little science club.”

                Bruce shook his head.  “I think Tony’s gotten past that phase, thankfully.  And while Peter likes the Hulk, I don’t know what he’d think of Bruce Banner.”

                “He’d love you, Bruce.  I bet you’re one of his science idols, right up there with Tony and Doc Connors.”

                He blinked at her.  “Thanks.  That’s…pretty big praise, coming from you.”  He frowned.  “Speaking of Doc Connors, how are things going on that front?”  Bruce hadn’t known the man well, but Connors was a respected scientific mind and a good man from what little interaction Bruce had with him.  He hadn’t deserved what happened to him, either at the Goblin’s hands or that of Octopus and his serum.

                Natasha shook her head.  “Nothing yet.  We’re keeping an eye out for him, but he’s doing a pretty good job of staying hidden.”  She sighed.  “I hope we find him, for Peter’s sake if not for his.”

                Bruce simply reached out and put a hand over one of hers where it rested on the surface of his work station.  She glanced at him sharply.  Neither of them really did physical contact, but Natasha had told him before that she believed more strongly in actions than words.  This was the most reassuring act he could think to offer her.  He moved his hand away after a few moments, but his gaze stayed locked on hers.

                Her expression softened slightly, showing the faintest hint of vulnerability.  “Thanks, Bruce.”  He smiled in return before turning to his latest batch of samples.  The smile didn’t fade as he heard the door open and close a moment later, Natasha having crossed the room in that near-silent way of hers.

                _Spider-lady good?_ The Other Guy’s voice rumbled in his head.

                “Yes,” Bruce replied out loud.  “Spider-lady good.”

**Author's Note:**

> The "foreshadowing" in the tags is for the next episode in the series, "Swarm," which opens with Tony helping Peter take down Juggernaut. This fic was born from the intersection of me wanting Tony to react to the Astrocarrier in some way, yet also wanting to set up that opening while, like I said, saving Tony's POV for my "Swarm" companion piece. Hope you liked! :)


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